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Elliot Orlando Armstrong - Origin and Genealogy of the Phelps Family by Judge Oliver Seymour Phelps
144
Dr. D. W. Armstrong Medical Account Book - arrival of Elliot Armstrong and family in Parma, August 1852
145
Elliot Orlando Armstrong - 1860 Census, Windsor Township, Eaton County, Michigan
146
Kaye Powell email of 12-14-95, information about Elliot Orlando Armstrong and family notes (believe
information is the same as shown in reference 21 above)- Armstrong Vermont to Michigan migration story
147
Kaye Powell email of 12-16-95, discussion of Luman Armstrong/Phelps last name.
10. Eleanor Phelps (Armstrong) Derby Cooper

Eleanor is the final child of Elliott Armstrong and Eleanor Phelps. It is uncertain whether she accompanied her
parents in their sojourn to Michigan in the 1829 – 1834 timeframe, but some family researchers believe that she
married her first husband, William Derby, in Michigan as early as 1835. My research in Shoreham seems to
suggest that she married William H. Derby there in 1838 and that he died there at age 32 in 1845. I also found a
death record of a Florence A Derby, who died of “brain fever” on Jan 3, 1858. Her place of birth is also said to
have been Shoreham, VT. I initially thought this may have been a daughter of William Derby and Eleanor’s, but I
was not able to prove any such relationship. However, in light of Eleanor’s presence in Michigan in the 1850 to
1852 timeframe discussed below, I find it unlikely that Eleanor would have left her daughter behind while she
and most of her remaining Armstrong family members left Shoreham and moved West. Whether or not Florence
is her daughter or she had any other children is a question that requires additional research.

It does appear that Eleanor lived in Parma, MI at some point in her life, as she is believed to have married her
second husband, William Cooper, there in about 1850. One of the following references indicates that she died
there on July 17, 1852, and another that she is buried near the grave of her older brother, Dr. David Wing
Armstrong in the Parma Village Cemetery. It also appears that her brother David acted as her attending
physician during her final illness, as an entry near the end of August 1852 mentions her husband William Cooper
and makes a general reference to her “sickness.” As it seems to have been her brother’s practice to make entries
in his account book at the time events actually occurred, this could mean she was still alive in August 1852;
which would, in turn, cause us to question the July death date mentioned above.

As shown in Elliot Orlando’s narrative above, there were several names that show up in David’s account book
only during this timeframe and are either not repeated again, or are repeated a couple of times shortly
thereafter and then do not appear again. For example, we found that Orange Stephens arrived in 1852, but also
shown for the only time is a George Cooper during that same period. Then in Dec. 1852 and Jan. 1853, we see
the names Rogger and Jackson Derby. Because these names are not regularly repeated after this period, one can
only wonder if they all actually lived in the area or came to visit for a temporary period of weeks or months.
Could the presence of these people be explained in some way by the sickness and death of Eleanor? If Derby’s
did live in the area at the time and possibly earlier, this would also tend to provide some additional support for
the opinion of other family researchers 9, CR-3 that Eleanor was actually the first Armstrong to take up permanent
residence in Michigan in the 1830s…

Other references of interest for Eleanor:
21
Letters and attachments - Page 5 is a family group sheet of Elliot Armstrong, Sr. and family that is believed to
have been prepared by Jerome B. Armstrong (Dr. David W. Armstrong’s eldest son).
73
"Assumptions & Observations Based on Shoreham, VT, Research," prepared by Dennis Armstrong, July 5, 1998
87
A Genealogical Register of the Early Families of Shoreham, Vermont; Susan H. McIntire and Sanford S.
Witherell, Volume 2; 1992; Academy Books, Rutland, Vermont, pages 278 & 279 (Elliot, Chauncey & Chester).
148
Dr. D. W. Armstrong’s Account Book; mentions William Cooper and the sickness of his wife Eleanor, August
1852.

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